By Xinhua,
Beijing : Twenty people have died and over 700,000 left homeless following torrential rains and floods in southern China over the past one week, authorities said Monday.
More than 700,000 people have been relocated as heavy rains destroyed houses, flooded crops, cut power lines, damaged roads and caused rivers to overflow, according to the latest figures from the provinces of Hunan, Fujian, Jiangxi and Guangdong and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
In Hunan, eight people died and 140,000 were forced out of their homes, according to the provincial flood control office.
In Fujian, five people died and two are missing.
In Jiangxi, three people who were previously reported as missing have been confirmed dead, bringing the province’s death toll to five. About 230,000 people had to flee their homes.
In Guangxi, 309,400 people were relocated. There have been no reports of casualties from the region so far.
The flood control headquarters in Jiangxi said that crops on 200,000 hectares of farmland have been damaged.
In Guangxi’s Rongshui county, 62 schools were flooded, and about 300 students were trapped in a boarding school.
Water levels in four rivers in Guangxi were above the warning levels Sunday evening and continued to rise in the Liujiang River.
The UN said natural disasters caused nearly $110 billion of damage in China last year.